Wagnerian Innovations In Classical Music

As noted by Robert Hughes, "Beethoven was not only the embodiment of all that was before him, but also of that which was yet to come" (Hughes 486). The truth of this may be seen by comparing Beethoven's 5th Symphony in C Minor to Haydn, the father of Symphony, and his 95th in C Minor. While Haydn's symphony is both playful and dramatic, Beethoven's symphony is grander both in terms of scale and vision. He expands the size of the orchestra to incorporate the sounds swirling around, underlying, and depicting the arrival of Fate in a rhythm-driven, thematic symphony that takes Haydn's form and runs with it as though to the top of a mountain peak. This paper will analyze the symphonies by movement, according to form, size, structure, tonalities, melodies, orchestral sound and overall mood and effect.

Romantic music inspired two smaller movements: nationalistic music and music about legends. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is a German composer who wrote many pieces on the basis of a story or myth. He revolutionized opera through creativity, discontent with musical formulas and his focus on drama.

The development of symphonic music during the Classical Period is greatly responsible for shaping today’s orchestral music landscape. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is often considered to be the cornerstone of the symphony genre evolution. While his grand gem is somewhat revolutionary and unique to a certain extent, such as ‘expanding the brass section in the final movement.’ [1] On the other hand Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is filled with minor references to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

What's a SUPER, swell, SPECTACULAR, SPLENDID, SERENE, and Superior school? Wagner elementary. Wagner is a elementary school named after Charles Wagner, a German immigrant who in 1871 bought 100 acres of land shortly after he emmigrated to California. And for me, I am John Stamos. I've been to Wagner for a long time, and I can say it shines like gold, diamond, and any other precious mineral you can think of. Why is Wagner so Sensational? The teachers, activities, and academic strategies are some of the many things that make this school the way it just is.

Beethoven contributed one of the most significant musical developments through his fifth and ninth symphonies. He used a musical motive as the basic of his entire piece. (Beethoven described the motive as “Fate knocks at the door”.) It was the first time in history that anyone had done such a thing for a multi-movement piece. Beethoven’s contribution has become a norm in the music world, even to this day.

Within the year of 1833 Wagner composed his first completed opera named “die feen” (the fairies) which notably impersonated the style of Carl Maria Von Weber (Richard Wagner Biography) . Wagner then worked as a musical director at the opera house in Magdeburg for a short period during which he wrote “das liebesverbot” (the ban on love), based on “measure for measure” by William Shakespeare.

During the early 20th century an artistic and social movement originated in Italy and was known as futurism. It was an innovation in technology. A similar movement was also occurring in Russia France England and etc. The persons who practiced such phenomenon were known as futurists. Futurists practiced in every art aspect that there was. Such as music, poetry painting theater etc. In each different part of Europe where futurism was evolving there were unique artists arising. Such Luigi Russolo Vladimir Mayakovsky Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Richard Wagner and Claude Debussy amongst others.

Berg draws on stylistic elements of the romantic era opera. In his piece entitled “Wozzeck”, Berg incorporates the use of the romantic ideals of the power

Throughout the semester, I have come to realize that the period of music history that I appreciate the most is the cusp between the Classical and the Romantic eras. Prior to this class, I had studied the piano throughout my childhood and I recall longing to play Chopin. When I had reached the technical ability to play Chopin, I discovered that my hands could not reach many of the chord progressions that Chopin’s music required. It is interesting, however, to realize that those pieces, even as a child were in line with how I feel about the romantic period today. Thus, Johannes Brahms was an integral part of the romantic period I speak of, and yet he often wrote in classical or absolute form.

Throughout the Classical Era, music has gone through drastic changes as a direct result of certain world events, as new circumstances birthed new technologies, scientific discoveries, and philosophies that allowed composers to see and think of their world in different ways, who in turn expressed these new visions through their

ruckner wrote the first version of the symphony in 1873. In September 1873, before the work was finished, Bruckner visited Richard Wagner, whom he had first met in 1865 at the premiere of Tristan und Isolde in Munich.[4] Bruckner showed both his Second and Third symphonies to Wagner, asking him to pick one he preferred. To Bruckner's delight, Wagner chose the Third, and Bruckner dedicated the symphony to the master he highly respected. After getting home, Bruckner continued to work on the symphony, finishing the finale on 31 December 1873.[5]

The traditional compositional forms–sonata, rondo, minuet and trio, etc.– depended upon the establishment of a key and a modulation to another key to mark important structural events. Music contemporary with and following Wagner tended to change key far more often. In fact, keys morphed so quickly that it was hard to say whether a tonic had ever been established. Tonic and dominant relationships were lost, structural boundaries were blurred, and listeners were losing themselves in an aural swamp. Schoenberg's solution was to find a means of organization other than tonality. In his quest, he pursued methods dictated by free atonality, by text (Sprechstimme) and ultimately by the twelve-tone method. By removing tonality, Schoenberg emphasized the independence of each musical line by the importance of a set of intervals. It was a radically new way of creating and perceiving music, but one cannot emphasize enough that this idea—the idea that the norm is insufficient—is not new with Schoenberg. Beethoven felt that an orchestra alone was insufficient to deliver the message he envisioned for his Ninth Symphony. Brahms felt that a Latin requiem text was inferior to what would be a largely German-speaking audience. And Schoenberg felt that continuing with the commonplace traditions of tonality would suffocate the ideas he wished to communicate. So we return to our

Claude Debussy and G.F. Handel are well known for long musical presence. Although they have similarities within their pieces being studied, the various differences are present more often. Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” is a softer, springtime sound with the flute as its main instrument. Handel’s “The Trumpet Shall Sound” has a gospel feel with the soloist’s melismatic notes and the presence of the trumpet soloist. Through the comparison between rhythm, harmony, timbre, dynamics, form, and word-music relationship, we will be able to see the similarities and differences.

“’We are still waiting for the man who can compose and write a genuine opera.’” (Furness 14). That man was Wilhelm Richard Wagner he was known for his operas and other compositions which influenced many other composers. Wagner wrote many amazing operas, compositions, and poetic lyrics. Some think he wasn’t so important, but some even think he was one of the best holding him up to Beethoven for his compositions (Furness 7). Wagner’s best composition from his career is a composition called Der Rings Des Nibelungen, which is a composition that is eighteen hours long and four operas which had reoccurring themes connecting them all together.

Arnold Schoenberg completely broke the traditional tonal system. He invented a new way of “twelve-tone” to organize his music. In contrast, Igor Stravinsky was a “tonal composer”. He extended musical ambiguity while “remaining within the tonal system”. Schoenberg and Stravinsky represented the two main paths of music at that time; Schoenberg represented Atonality and Stravinsky represented Tonal Ambiguity. For example, Schoenberg’s work “Pierrot Lunaire” showed atonality more than ever. On the contrary, using “famous bi-tonal chords”, Stravinsky’s composition “The Rite of Spring” solid based on tonal forms, although it was dissonant.